LAHORE – The Punjab government, after three years, has made public the judicial commission report put forth by Justice Baqar Najafi, in line with the directives of Lahore High Court regarding the Model Town incident.
The Model Town inquiry tribunal report has blamed the government of Punjab, particularly Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah as well as the provincial police for the 2014 incident in which 14 supporters of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were killed.
Justice Baqir Najfi commission, while terming the June 2014 tragedy in Lahore’s Model Town as the “most unfortunate incident” in the country’s history also said that police tried to cover up the facts regarding who gave orders to open fire on protesters, according to the commission report.
The inquiry tribunal, headed by Justice Ali Baqai Najafi of the Lahore High Court, had submitted the 132-page report in the same year but the Punjab government did not make it public.
Report of Inquiry Tribunal by Mr. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi Judge Lahore High Court Lahore-
The full report can also be viewed here:
The decision to make the report public was announced by the provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah, who while addressing a press conference expressed that the Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered making the report public.
‘According to the report, I am blamed for ordering the removal of barricades outside the Model Town incident’ said the minister and added that the report which was uploaded on the website of Directorate General Public Relations, could not be presented as a testimony.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/ineffective-baqir-najfi-report-on-model-town-killings-does-not-blame-cm-shehbaz-asserts-rana-sanaullah/
He went on and said that the workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek which were branded as ‘oppressed’ by Dr. Tahir ul Qadri were actually assembled to attack the police officials.
The minister continued that the court had directed the government to make the report public within a span of 30 days but hastened to add that no government official was blamed for the killings in the report.
He also clarified that the Punjab government would not challenge the verdict given by the Lahore High Court.
